The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...
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The loyal, seditious Dr Sen by Samar Halarnkar
“Take again Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code. Now so far as I am concerned that particular section is highly objectionable and obnoxious and it should have no place both for practical and historical reasons, if you like, in anv body of laws that we might pass. The sooner we get rid of it the better.” —Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Parliament during debates on the first amendment to...
More »Not to question why by Ramachandra Guha
Thirty years ago, in an act I still feel guilty about, I woke up a very great Indian from his sleep. I was volunteering at a conference in New Delhi, and had been asked to fetch the Member of Parliament from Dhanbad, AK Roy, from his quarters in Vithalbhai Patel House. Roy, a labour leader legendary for his integrity and his wide range of reading, had been elected from the...
More »Her Sinister Ring Tone by Shantanu Guha Ray
NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...
More »RTI Activist's Father Calls For CBI Probe in Son's Murder
Bhikhalal Jethva, father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethva who was shot dead in July, today filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court demanding a probe by CBI or any other independent agency into the death of his son. Bhikhalal, in his petition, has alleged that since BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki was behind the killing of Jethva and independent and impartial investigation was not being done by the...
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